(This is another 2-parter thanks to the sheer number of photos. Click here for Part 2, containing the second half of the photos only.)
Bob Dangerous and I repeated my first step from yesterday: dropping a vehicle at Goldminer's Daughter at Alta at 8:45 am. This time, however, it only required one trip down to Snowbird. :roll:
On the Tram ride up we hooked up with a rat pack of assorted locals -- Joe, Kathleen, Jim, and about 4 more whose names I can't recall for the life of me. We stuck together, more or less, for 4 laps on Little Cloud, each time going out a horribly rutted and frozen Road to Provo to access the sun-softened Rasta Chutes instead of the glazed skin on west-facing Regulator Johnson. Good, good stuff...but after 4 runs Bob and I were ready to venture further afield. And little did we realize at the time how far afield we'd go!
Traversing out the Peruvian ridgeline, between Hidden Peak and Baldy, the temptation of the Chamonix Chutes dropping off to our right into the closed Mineral Basin on the back side of Snowbird was too strong for either of us to ignore. Bob dropped first, and I followed shortly thereafter, figure-8'ing his turns in absolutely divine corn. Bob called it his run of the spring. I've had others that qualify, but those turns were glorious.
There was only one way back out of Mineral Basin: hoofing it. We thus began our schlep, a half-mile traverse around the wall of Mineral Basin to a spot under the mothballed Baldy Express chair. We weren't heading back to Snowbird, we were heading to Alta, closed for the season since April 17. Upon reaching the Baldy Express liftline there was only one way to go: up. It was here that Bob began to bootpack and I donned skins, heading straight up to the ridgeline of Sugarloaf Pass. Before we knew it we were standing at the site of the Sugar Shack, debating where to go within Alta Ski Area.
Five skinners were heading for the summit of Sugarloaf, enough to make us decide to head to Devil's Castle.
I kept the skins on until the Devil's Castle traverse above Alta's Sugarloaf chair, then stripped them off and headed out to some sweet, sweet turns directly above Cecret Lake. Above the lake we traversed right, dropping the knolls that lead down through Cabin Hill until we popped back out at Alf's. A leisurely cruise entirely on snow back down to Albion Base brought us to a relaxing walk along the Transfer Tow back to Wildcat, enhanced by the sound of rushing water in the swollen Little Cottonwood Creek. A giant circumnavigation of Alta was under our belt, now 12:45 pm and 8,478 vertical feet later.
(Again, this is another 2-parter thanks to the sheer number of photos. Click here for Part 2, containing the second half of the photos only.)
Bob Dangerous and I repeated my first step from yesterday: dropping a vehicle at Goldminer's Daughter at Alta at 8:45 am. This time, however, it only required one trip down to Snowbird. :roll:
On the Tram ride up we hooked up with a rat pack of assorted locals -- Joe, Kathleen, Jim, and about 4 more whose names I can't recall for the life of me. We stuck together, more or less, for 4 laps on Little Cloud, each time going out a horribly rutted and frozen Road to Provo to access the sun-softened Rasta Chutes instead of the glazed skin on west-facing Regulator Johnson. Good, good stuff...but after 4 runs Bob and I were ready to venture further afield. And little did we realize at the time how far afield we'd go!
Traversing out the Peruvian ridgeline, between Hidden Peak and Baldy, the temptation of the Chamonix Chutes dropping off to our right into the closed Mineral Basin on the back side of Snowbird was too strong for either of us to ignore. Bob dropped first, and I followed shortly thereafter, figure-8'ing his turns in absolutely divine corn. Bob called it his run of the spring. I've had others that qualify, but those turns were glorious.
There was only one way back out of Mineral Basin: hoofing it. We thus began our schlep, a half-mile traverse around the wall of Mineral Basin to a spot under the mothballed Baldy Express chair. We weren't heading back to Snowbird, we were heading to Alta, closed for the season since April 17. Upon reaching the Baldy Express liftline there was only one way to go: up. It was here that Bob began to bootpack and I donned skins, heading straight up to the ridgeline of Sugarloaf Pass. Before we knew it we were standing at the site of the Sugar Shack, debating where to go within Alta Ski Area.
Five skinners were heading for the summit of Sugarloaf, enough to make us decide to head to Devil's Castle.
I kept the skins on until the Devil's Castle traverse above Alta's Sugarloaf chair, then stripped them off and headed out to some sweet, sweet turns directly above Cecret Lake. Above the lake we traversed right, dropping the knolls that lead down through Cabin Hill until we popped back out at Alf's. A leisurely cruise entirely on snow back down to Albion Base brought us to a relaxing walk along the Transfer Tow back to Wildcat, enhanced by the sound of rushing water in the swollen Little Cottonwood Creek. A giant circumnavigation of Alta was under our belt, now 12:45 pm and 8,478 vertical feet later.
(Again, this is another 2-parter thanks to the sheer number of photos. Click here for Part 2, containing the second half of the photos only.)
Attachments
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10 snowbird mineral 050626.jpg -
09 snowbird admin skinning 050626.jpg -
08 snowbird chamonix 050626.jpg -
07 snowbird mineral traverse 050626.jpg -
06 snowbird bob skis chamonix 050626.jpg -
06 snowbird bob atop chamonix 050626.jpg -
05 snowbird tram tower 4 050626.jpg -
04 snowbird lc glaze 050626.jpg -
03 snowbird bob lc chair 050626.jpg -
02 alta wildcat 050626.jpg -
01 alta morning light high rust 050626.jpg